The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-12-30
Old man Bitley turned to Alb.

Old man Bitley turned to Alb.
''Gitg' he said rapidly. &c IN Ba-
eonville an fetch Doc. Hawkins. Don't
let no grass grow under"
But Alb was out Of the door and
speeding acruss the little clearing.
''Oh. AIR Bitley called. III You see
any of them fellers that was helpin' us
hunt. tell 'em that tho sh0ats hain't no
where round yerA Reckon they're
plumb ON the fur side nv the bluff"
'.You betr' was Abs reply a. he
disappeared in the timber.
As we'll rs he was able. old man Bit
ley dressed the wound Of the insensible
cripple. Even to his unprofcssional
eyes It was evident that the great
wound would soon prove mortal
Bitley made the sick woman a. COM
Portable as possible. Then he slipped
from the cabin. gun in hand. and soon
returned with q fat fox-squirrel. which
he speedily had cooking over a cheerful
blaze in the rude stone Fireplace. just
outside of the cabin. When the hot
broth was brought to her. the sick wo-
man partook Of it like one who was
half furnished, and then sank backward
and was soon sleeping peacefully.
When DR.. Hawkins arrived he
shook his head gravely, after examin-
ing the condition of the two patients.
THE cripple'll die" he said i'm a
whisper to Bitley. The woman amt
much better off The fever and the
next thing to starvation have made
her chances mighty SLIM"
As the physician turned again to his
patients, Alb. beckoned old Bitlcy out
of the cabin.
Them wild man hunters air a-mak-
i'm fer the county line. They low he $
gone in that direction" the lad whis-
pered.
"Wal," returned the other. ''they'll
have to 60 right smart before they find
him."
1t was almost night and the last mel
low rays of the declining sun rested on
the face of the deformed boy as the re-
leased soul left the distorted body and
death captured Alb. Slacker's wild man.
Never more would he be hunted.
The sick woman lay half unconscious
for several days. BY the time she re-
turned to her right mind and began to
gain strength. the simple burial service
at which Preacher Hobbs. from Bacon
vile, presided. had been solcmnized.
and the poor, mishapen form had been
laid in grave in the shadow of the
rcd-buds. The story the sick woman
told was one of pain and suffering.
Shortly after leaving Indiana, her
husband had died. leaving little but a
mortgagcd ''claim'' and the deformed
and idiotic son. MisfOrtunes did not
come singly. As the boy grew older,
he developed an uncomfortable desire to
steal any thing that was stealable
In vain the widow did all in her pow
err to prevent his depredations. In spite
of her efforts. he continued to appro-
pirate whatever struck his fancy.
There were murmurings of disap-
proval among the neighbors and hints
of necessary restraint for the unfor-
tunate boy, toward whom they were
only lenicnt out of pity for his afflic-
tons. Then the mortgage on the claim
was fOreclosed, and the widow and Or
phan were homeless.
The poor woman removed her scanty
belongings to another town, from
whence she was speedily forced to
journey by the thievish ways of the
idiot From place to place she wan
dered. upheld by the mother-love and
desire to protect the innocent sinner.
At last he committed what, in the
West, is the equal in dcpravity to any
crime on the Notwithstanding.
The entire neighborhood was deter
mined that the idiot should be sum-
niarily punished. either by the peni-
Tertiary or mad-house. Then the
widow fled in the night. taking with
her the unfortunate son, now man in
years but a child in intellect. Pursuit
was organized. but she eluded it. At
last. after prolonged wandering. they
sought refuge in the depths of the Big
Timber.
Here she found the deserted cabin,
left by some turkey hunters of two
years before. Several times they were
almost discovered, but each time they
escaped detection. They subsisted as
best they could upon the products of a
little ''truck patch" that the two had
cleared, and upon the game captured
by the idiot, who. in spite of his mis-
fortune. was an expert trapper
Then the widow had been strickened
down by the enervating fever and lay
for many days growing weaker. pre-
ferring to risk death rather than reveal
their hiding place.
When she had finished her story
there were tears in the honest eyes of
DR.. Hawkins. while Alb. Stacker and
old man Bitlcy snuffled suspiciously.
A month later Radical City was
nightly surprised at the return Of old
man Bitley. after an absence that dated
from the time of the great wild man
hunt Whom the bride who accom-
panied him had been before Preacher
Hobbs had welded them ut Baconvillc
Radical City never knew. The only per-
sons to whom the secret was no secret
never revealed the fact that she was
the mother of Alb. Slacker's wild man.
TON P. MORGAN.
A novel industry has bcen started
l.. Al